Chapter Text
Simon only first noticed them…well until now, but he didn’t say anything, how could he? It would be rude to point out what he was supposed to say. there were horizontal lines on Wilhelms left arm, tracing right up to his shoulder, some of them were faded, some were white, but what made simons breath hitch was the fresh, red ones, if you were in the dark you wouldn’t be able to see them like they were never there, but in the day they were clear as smudges on a freshly cleaned window.
He wanted to reach out, to ask him if he was ok, but he had stopped himself before he could ask. He didn’t know how comfortable the boy would be with the question, especially with other people around, so he just watched him.
He had wondered what in the boy's life even made him think about doing something like that to himself, someone so close to him had thought of himself so low that he felt like he had to…hurt himself.
They were rowing, that’s what they came here for, for rowing practice, it’s not like they had a choice, August had come into his and Wilhelms room to yell at them to wake up, called them slobs for not getting up early, Simon wishes he could just punch him in the face if anything he was the slob, the curly haired boy now realized he was spacing out, he snapped out of his thoughts, he pointed his gaze back to Wilhelm, looking back at his arm, Simon now worried, he stepped closer to Wilhelm than hopping into the same boat as him.
Wilhelm chuckles
“Why are you following me?” the boy asks, He now gasps “Do you…have a crush on me?” his mouth now hanging open, then quickly turning into a laugh.
Simon smiles, knocking the back of his back playfully
“Shh, shut up,” he says under his breath.
The thoughts of the boy and his lines had washed away, now he only thought about the boy in front of him.
~~~~~~~~
Wilhelm was late, not late as in 10 minutes late but 40 minutes late, about half the period, he now entered the classroom, with a panic expression on his face, he wasn’t wearing shorts sleeves like he usually would, but instead, he wore a blue hoodie.
He started sped walking to his desk, trying to take his classmate's eyes off him, but then was stopped by the teacher
“Wilhelm..” the teacher said.
“Yes?” the boy said as he turned his body for the teacher to see him. His voice shook.
“This is the third time you’ve been late.” the teacher said in a stern voice.
“I know, I'm sorry,” he said, stuttering.
Everyone was looking at Wilhelm, including Simon
Wilehelm is now overwhelmed.
“No sorry, don’t do it next time or we’ll have to talk,” he said, cold as ice, almost like frost escaped his mouth.
“Yes, sorry sir,” he said, turning around, and quickly walking to his desk.
Simon now spacing out, his mind now dragging himself into his thoughts, Why was he so late? what was he doing for so long? He knows Wille, he would never skip class, it was not like him.
Simon, now breaking himself from spacing out, his gaze turned to Wilhelm.
The boy looked stressed like he was caught doing something, something he was supposed to hide, his left leg now bouncing up and down, Wilhelm's eyes went from the teacher to his arm, looking down he put his left arm under his desk, rubbing on his left upper forearm, pain took over his face, but was quickly erased from his expression as if he noticed Simon looking at him, his leg now stopped bouncing.
The curly boy turned his face away from Wilhelm fast, had he noticed him? Something in Simon's gut had told him he had done something...bad to himself again, concern taking over his mind, should he talk to him? Maybe ask why he was late. He doubts he would tell the truth but he can’t stand the idea of doing anything, Simon's eyes stare at the clock, the period will end in 20 minutes, which gives him enough time to figure out how to approach him.
~~~~~~
The class had ended, and all of the students got up to leave the classroom, Wilhelm being the first one to go, he was in a hurry, he wanted to leave fast.
Simon was practically running after Wilhelm, trying to catch him before he left into the dozens of students in the halls. He grabs the sleeve of Wilhelms's fitting hoodie, pulling on it to get the boy's attention, but grabbing his sleeve was enough. The taller boy looked to the back of him, looking down at the hand on his hoodie, then up at Simon, Simon released his hand from Wilhelms sweater, and Wilhelm smiled, grabbing Simon by his arm, and pulling him into the halls.
“Yes? Are you following me again?” a smirk appeared on his face.
Simon was shocked, he covered Wilhelms mouth with his hand.
“Shh, don’t say that stuff so loud,” Simon said looking back and forth, the halls were still full, yet no one was looking at them, Simon removed his hand from the boy's mouth.
“Why? Don’t they want to know how much I love you?” Wilhelm said, smirking, putting his
Lips closer to Simon’s like they weren’t close enough.
Simon covers Wilhelm’s mouth quickly again, pushing his head away from his, putting distance between their lips, Wilhelms head now against the wall. Simon's head flipped back and forth.
“ You need to learn how to be quiet,” Simon says under his breath, he looks back at Wilhelm not releasing how close they were, Simon stepped back, clearing his throat.
Panic splat on Wilhelms's face, he had remembered something, something distressing.
“I have to go,” he said, not wasting any time, walking as quickly as he could.
“Wait-” Simon had pulled out of his mouth, he had walked away before Simon could ask if he was ok, the curly boy standing there lost for a moment before exiting the school, feeling guilt washing down his mind, why didn’t he say anything, he had his chance, yet he forgot, again, he stood by a tree, waiting for his sister Sara, she had only come after 10 minutes and they both walked up to the bus and sat down in their seats.
None of them said anything for a while, but that was before Sara started talking.
“Ok, what happened?” she said
“What?” Simon said confused
“You are not talking like you usually do when we sit down on the bus, and you look sad,” the sister said, she knew Simon, she always knew when something was bothering him.
“What? No, I’m fine Sara”
“Are you sure? Because you don’t look fine.”
Simon laughs, he hides his sadness with smiles and laughter, even though he knows it won’t work on Sara, he still does it anyways.
“Yes I’m fine, but thank you for worrying about me,” he said
Sara said nothing after that, she just looked at Simon for a split second before looking at the outside from the window.
She wasn’t going to force her brother into talking about something he didn’t want to talk about, so they sat in silence for the rest of the bus ride.